Category: True Crime

THE BIRD OF ILL OMEN Catherine Crowe: 2025 Halloween Special

Catherine Crowe was a wildly acclaimed Victorian novelist, playwright, social critic and …ghost hunter? Her novels were as popular as Charles Dickens,’ and Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Martineau, and George Eliot were her ardent fans. And her pioneering catalog of ghosts and the supernatural, The Night Side of Nature, was one of the first and most influential works to be adopted by the up-and-coming Spiritualist movement. So how did this incredibly talented, incredibly famous woman …

19th century / England / Europe / First woman to... / Ghosts / Halloween Specials / Philosophy / Religion / Scotland / Special Episodes / True Crime / Writers

THE APOTHECARY Giulia Tofana: 2024 Halloween Special

If you knew the recipe for an undetectable poison, would you use it? What about giving it to women with abusive husbands? Giulia Tofana’s legendary poison Aqua Tofana (brilliantly disguised as holy ointment) was famed and feared in 17th-century Rome. But just how many terrible husbands can drop dead, before the Pope gets suspicious? In this year’s Halloween Special, our guests are Gaia Aloisi and Ted Blackburn, the creators of Aqua Tofana, a new electronic …

17th century / Europe / Halloween Specials / Italy / Musicians / Special Episodes / Theater / True Crime

THE BUTTERFLY IN THE SUN Mata Hari

A charming Indonesian orphan danced her way to fame and fortune… except literally everything about Mata Hari was a lie. She said she wanted to live like a butterfly in the sun. So in the end, could she really have been guilty of espionage? Katie takes us to Leiden to marvel at the incredible life of Mata Hari. Listen to Frank Turner‘s beautiful song about Mata Hari, “Eye of the Day,” here. Josine Heijnen holds …

20th century / Asia / Dancers / Europe / France / Germany / Indonesia / LGBTQ+ / Netherlands / on-location / Travel / True Crime / War / You Think You Know Her

THE BLOOD COUNTESS Elizabeth Báthory: 2023 Halloween Special

Countess Elizabeth Báthory was a monster – a sadistic, murderous, vampire-witch who, in her castle in Hungary in the early 1600s, tortured and murdered over 600 young girls, then bathed in the blood of her victims. Or did she? Was she truly the supreme supernatural evil of 500 years of legend? Or was she an innocent victim of witch-hunt hysteria and political scheming? Or was she something else entirely? Dig into the mysteries of this …

16th century / 17th century / Europe / Halloween Specials / Hungary / Slovakia / Special Episodes / True Crime / Witches

THE ACCUSED Clara Ford

When Clara Ford – a poor, Black, cross-dressing, pipe smoking, single mother – was arrested for the murder of dashing, young, white Frank Westwood, nobody expected her to avoid the noose. So how did this unexpected heroine talk her way out of the death sentence – even after she confessed? Olivia takes us to 19th century Toronto for a wild True Crime adventure with Carolyn Whitzman, author of the fascinating new book Clara at the …

19th century / Black history / Canada / Dancers / First woman to... / LGBTQ+ / North America / Performers / Theater / True Crime

THE POISONER Goeie Mie: 2022 Halloween Special

The most prolific poisoner of all time couldn’t possibly have been a woman. Right??! Goeie Mie, “Good Maria,” was such a selfless and kindly nurse that desperate folks in 19th-century Leiden called her when they were sick, knowing she’d come even if they couldn’t pay. But they got worse…and worse, and usually died in misery. Goeie Mie had life insurance on all of them. Travel on location to Leiden, The Netherlands with Katie in this …

19th century / Europe / Halloween Specials / Medicine / Netherlands / on-location / Special Episodes / True Crime

THE MOTHER OF FORENSIC SCIENCE Frances Glessner Lee

Frances Glessner Lee was 52 years old when she discovered the mission that would become her legacy – to “convict the guilty, clear the innocent, and find the truth.” After five decades as a prominent social hostess (and innovative part-time artist) this indomitable woman took on centuries of entrenched medical and legal tradition to become the Mother of Forensic Science. And she did it – at least partially – with dollhouses?! Olivia speaks to guest …

20th century / Activists / Educators / First woman to... / Medicine / North America / Science / True Crime / United States